I went 6-4 this weekend, I’ll have to total up at some point. I got dealt unpleasant losses by Texas, Oklahoma State, and Notre Dame. Jerks. Also, I escaped the Vandy-Kentucky game with a win–38.5 under, 38 total with Vandy in the red zone at the end of the game. I still don’t know how that didn’t go over. And, if you took the over, how pissed off are you? Because that’s a pretty bad beat in itself.

Let’s break this weekend down.

Baylor falls to Oklahoma in the least surprising result ever…

Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are the two best teams in the Big XII this season, and the national narrative has been slurping Baylor and TCU because of some imagined slight they were dealt last year by the playoff committee. Baylor finally had to play a decent defense and got embarrassed. The Sooners were ready for Baylor on both sides of the ball and absolutely destroyed them. The score was far closer than the game actually was. I bet Briles regrets admitting that he lets his receivers dog it on plays. You can do that when the opponent doesn’t play defense, not so much when they’re the Sooners.

Florida wins number 700 and completes sweep of the East…

The Gators rumbled into Columbia and took on an embattled but determined South Carolina team and managed to work the game out of reach late to win for the 700th time in program history. Treon Harris looked better, but he still sucks and is an anemic passing threat at best. This game got high on the pucker scale for Florida fans late when South Carolina scored on a gimmick play and then a late touchdown to a wide open Carolina recover. Though Florida never trailed, it took a bad opponent getting within striking distance for the Gators to turn it on. The Gators face FAU next week and Florida State the weekend of Thanksgiving. Florida’s defense is the heart of the team this season, as the team’s fate in games has been completely determined by the play of the defense. Florida will need to lean on that heavily in two weeks. That game is going to be ugly and stressful for Gator fans.

Arkansas is going to ruin everything…

The Hogs won another game against a tough opponent this weekend by beating LSU in Death Valley. They’ve knocked LSU out of the playoff and inch Alabama one step closer to Atlanta–if LSU beats Ole Miss this weekend, Alabama will claim the West title. However, if Mississippi wins out, Auburn will have a chance to land a knockout blow and keep the Tide out of Atlanta and the Playoff. That notion is primarily academic because Auburn sucks, but it’s possible in print. Arkansas has provided a significant amount of win-erosion to Playoff-hopeful SEC teams Alabama and Florida by beating LSU and Ole Miss. It may be the opening needed by pundits to try to hold the SEC out of the playoff, especially if an 11-1 Florida somehow manages to beat Alabama, or, God forbid, Mississippi. If Bama doesn’t go for the West, there’s a very real possibility that a one-loss SEC champ is left out, which is absurd, but possible.

Oregon knocked the PAC-12 out of the playoff, along with Notre Dame (probably)…

This is further compounded by the fact that everyone in the PAC seemed to lose this weekend. But now, Stanford has lost to Northwestern and Oregon. They are no longer the one loss Titan that Notre Dame had hoped to see in their final regular season game. Additionally, a clear elite team has not emerged from the PAC-12 this season. They’ve beaten each other to a pulp. The conference has a snowball’s chance at making the Playoff at this point. Ever single Power 5 one-loss team (and some G5 one-loss teams). Notre Dame only had its strength of schedule to hang its hat on, because the Irish do not have a conference championship game. And now, that strength is rapidly deteriorating.

Iowa ain’t played nobody, PAWWWWWL…

No, seriously. They haven’t. Iowa is not really a top ten team. Also, how crappy is the B1G West. Good Lord! A wholesale swap with the Mountain West might provide a more competitive division. Iowa has Purdue and Nebraska left before facing the winner of the East, likely Ohio State. I think the Hawkeyes lose to Nebraska. But, that said, conference champion Iowa should be in the playoff so I’m not super mad about the ranking. Right now it’s looking like Iowa is your West representative. They hold the tiebreak over Wisconsin and need to lose the next two for the Badgers to win the division. Not likely, because: Purdue. Iowa may have to quit at halftime in the B1G championship game. It will be ugly.

Pitch

Notre Dame will win out, and be left out of the College Football Playoff because South Carolina will beat Clemson.